Tell me what Canada is like

[General Ludd]

Yeah, you deffinately do want to avoid toronto, it is an over-priced dump.

[Dis]

by the way which Canadian city has the best prostitution and/or strip clubs?

This is just as important as the weather.

[Frankychan]

How's the opinion of people from Hawaii in Canada?

I've met some really open-minded people from Canada (moreso than ppl from the U.S.) and wouldn't mind living there. But I look Hawaiian-Japanese so they may mistake me for being Hispanic...which I'm not!!!

Anyway, do americans need a passport to enter Canada or is it kinda lax?

[Starchild]

There is nothing of any importance outside Toronto. Just stay indoors during the summer and winter and don't breathe the air (but you can drink the water)

[- Groucho -]

Originally posted by Dissident
by the way which Canadian city has the best prostitution and/or strip clubs?

This is just as important as the weather.

Vancouver, hands down ... errr ... or so I've been told.

[- Groucho -]

Originally posted by frankychan
How's the opinion of people from Hawaii in Canada?

I've met some really open-minded people from Canada (moreso than ppl from the U.S.) and wouldn't mind living there. But I look Hawaiian-Japanese so they may mistake me for being Hispanic...which I'm not!!!

Anyway, do americans need a passport to enter Canada or is it kinda lax?

No passport required - but proof of citizenship is (a birth certificate will do the trick). Post 9/11 though, I bring my passport every time, though. It just makes your life a lot simpler.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Sorry, but you don't know redneck until you've lived in VA, west VA. 90% of the cars at the high school parking lot are pickups. most kids wear camo to school. When hunting season starts, they wear those orange vests. And redneck country is the only place where you only get a warning for having a shotgun in your car on school property (true).

Oh, and there is a difference b/t rednecks, hicks and hillbillies. Rednecks are in Ncarolina, Virginia (not in the North, but everywhere else ) and east W. VA. Hicks are further south (Alabama Man). Hillbillies are in W. VA and further west.

OK, thats enough of a threadjack.

BTW, Alberta looks really nice. Lots of trees

[Tingkai]

Ahser's photo of Calgary is pure propoganda. The place ain't that nice. And talk about being a mini-version of an American city. Here's a view of the thriving streets of Calgary. Note the incredible street life.

[Seeker]

It is very difficult for even highly qualified immigrants to make it into Canada.

You'd have much better luck if you were Tamil, or Somali, or something.

Oh, and Commonwealth types seem to get in easier (G.B., Jamaica, etc)

Where to go:
Depends on your skills. West Coast is definitely the place to go if you are 'liberal', just be aware that jobs are tight...

Vancouver is awesome, Interior is nice but you have to know people to work there. Be prepared to deal with the local Indian situation...
Vancouver is also virtually a colony of Asians (H.K., Taiwan, India) has more Sikh temples and Buddhist shrines than churches. Some street signs are in Chinese, there are all Chinese schools. BC is the most beautiful place, however due to its young age the cities tend to be architectural abortions...

Alberta is nice, but they're gutting their health care... Texas with Snow is a good analogy. Architecture: Some Western style small towns, but Calgary is a city designed by businessmen for businessmen.

Manitoba and Saskathewan are boring socialist backwaters. Manitoba has a lot of Inuit. Architecture: Large cities: All the uniform massive concrete socialist slabs with none of the feeling. Small towns are "Western" type.

Territories: Good hunting, canoeing. Only work is of the mineral exploitation variety, geological exploration (they find new diamond pipes up there all the time if you can handle the flies). A lot of ghettoized Inuit (think Lapps, except unmotivated, broke, and drug addicts). Architecture: LOL...hideous prefab, permafrost resistant.

Northern Ontario: Infested with Finns, Italians, and Greeks. Very beautiful, excellent hunting, cheap land. Even relatively poor people may own their own lakes or extensive waterfront. Boiling summers. Freezing winters. Many excellent lakes, pure clear water, bass, trout. Architecture:Obviously the larger cities are fairly utiliarian, but some are very nice. The upper class neighbourhoods and the Italian district of Sudbury are quite nice, marble and brick. The rural houses can be quite nice, especially the large multi-generational homes built by Finnish or English settlers. The Finns usually have a sauna attached.

Toronto-Hamilton "Golden Horseshoe": Ugh, considered by Canadians to be the most American area. Post-industrial wasteland, many wannabe 'gangsta' types, many immigrants. Rudest, most obnoxious inhabitants. Most crime. Old Toronto and the downtown are nice. Downtown TO reminds most vistors of New York. The rest is just filth and squalor, consisting of rundown ratholes, abandoned factories, modern suburban 'gated community' blight, strip malls, etc. Rosedale has very nice architecture, beatiful old mansions in the respectable area of the city.

Southwestern Ontario: The respectable part of Ontario, contains London, Cambridge, Stratford, etc. Very nice Edwardian cities and little towns dot a landscape of rolling green. Very good for students. Kitchener was once Berlin, a German colony (they have Oktoberfest), but was renamed after Lord Kitchener during that war business. This is the older Loyalist part of Ontario, and the older buildings actually have distinctive architecture before everything turned to Modernist American crap.

Quebec: the French. Considering that they've been around since 1500s, it has the showiest older architecture. Montreal has a lot of Modernist crap, but Quebec City (which is a walled city) is very nice, Chateau Frontenac, cathedrals, etc. Forget about immigrating there if you can't speak French.

The Rest: cheap lobster. Newfies. Coal mines. New England style architecture in NB, NS. Edwardian style in the picture 'show province' of PEI (a tiny island surviving on the unhealthy fascination of Japanese tourists for Anne of Green Gables). Newfoundland is a dank land of ice and fog and ice and fog. It's filled with Irish who fled the Famine and didn't realize the continent kept going another 1000 miles or so.

Wierd Things About Canada That Surprise Foreigners:
-The existence of vast tracts of land that is just land. Not used for anything, it just sits out there filling up space on the map, like those parts of Siberian that they used to write out Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in full on. Euros seem to have the idea that land is used FOR something, farming, urban, park etc. This is called 'Crown Land' usually (owned by the Queen).
-The fact that it is quite hot in the summer even far north. In fact, with Europes moderating Gulf stream, it can be sweltering.
-The winters vary. There can be really extreme weather. Often we see euros thinking they've actually experienced Canadian winter... or "It gets worse?!!". Lately it has been unseasonably warm, but cars can be entombed overnight, ice storms take out all hydro, 8 m high snowdrifts.
-The lack of quality rail service. If there is one thing North America could use it is quality rail service. But no, we just don't DO that.
-The distance between places, particularly outside of southern Ontario. Many euros I have seen don't quite seem to comprehend that yes, that little distance on the map is a 10 hour drive.
-Our strange school system in Ontario. There is a Public (formerly 'Protestant') system and a Catholic system. Both are publicly funded, bother are open to anyone (You have to endure Religion class in the Catholic system, but they are widely acknowledged as superior and much better at soccer)
-I believe there is a similar system in Quebec and Newfoundland.
-The French really can be annoying.

[Grandpa Troll]

I am from Maine originally.

In Aroostook County, Northern Maine, bordering Quebec, there is a Red & White Supermarket.

One day while I was in there a man goes up to the fruits area and wants to buy a piece of a watermelon. The newly hired young clerk states he has to by the whole watermelon or none of it. The patron explains he is from Canada and can purchase pieces of watermelon there anytime. The young clerk, understanding how Canadians think, having grown up with them all his life, asks the patron to hold on, while he runs this by his Manager.

He goes out back, out of ear shot of the patron, laughs uncontrollably, blurts out, "Mr. Ouellete, some guy wants to buy a piece of watermelon, hes a pure dumbuttocks, must be Canadian!!" Then the young clerk continues, "yeah, aint but two kinds of people come from Canada, Whores & Hockey Players".

Mr.Ouellete, red-faced and furious, spurts out" MY WIFE IS FROM CANADA!!!"

The young clerk, without missing a beat, asks"Which team does she play for SIR?"

Yours In Civin

Troll

[Tingkai]

I have lived in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia.

I have never liked Calgary. The place is dusty. It feels dead half the time. But the great thing about Calgary is it is near the Rockies. Great hiking during the summer. Great skiing in the winter. So if city life is not important to you then Calgary would be a great place.

The winters in Calgary can be terrible, although it does get chinooks. Weatherwise, ya get a lot of beautiful clear sunny days (even when the temp drops well below zero).

Calgary is far too white for my liking, although things may have changed in the past 5 years.

U of C is underrated. It has some pretty good programs.

Vancouver is great during the summer, but you live without the sun for eight months of the year (due to constant cloud cover). The downtown core has a great city life - fantastic bars, great restaurants, shops (although one of the great bookstores of the world has closed). The downside is Vancouver has a terrible skid row. Vancouver also has easy access to the mountains.

The University of British Columbia is a world-class university.

There's a great range of different cultures in Vancouver. Large populations of South-Asians-Canadians and Chinese-Canadians.

Toronto gets slagged a lot by the rest of Canada, but it is one of the greatest cities in the world. It has the greatest range of culture (meaning music, theatre, museums, etc) of any Canadian cities. This is the place to be if you want to see the best Canadian music. Toronto also has some of the best restaurants with authentic food from around the world thanks to the multicultural nature of the city.

In terms of pro sports, Toronto is the only Canadian city with NHL, NBA, MLB and pro-football teams.

Toronto has fantastic architecture and is considered one of the best designed cities of the world.

Other Canadians complain about the crime rate, but it is far below that of American cities and probably on par with other great European and Asian cities.

The University of Toronto is considered one of the best in the world. There are probably half-a-dozen other great universities within two hours drive (Queens, the University of Western Ontario, U of Waterloo, etc)

You don't need a car to live in Toronto. It has a great mass transit system.

For outdoor activities, you have to drive a long way before you get to the real outdoors, but there is decent skiing (if you like moguls) within two hours.

The big downside of Toronto is that it has world-class pollution and traffic jams.

The downside for all of Canada is the employment opportunities. It is difficult to get a great job and taxes are high (even in Alberta).

[orange]

I've actually been thinking about moving to Western Canada myself once I get older and out of school...

...Asher how's the job market for high school/university teachers?

[Tingkai]

Originally posted by Seeker
It is very difficult for even highly qualified immigrants to make it into Canada.
You'd have much better luck if you were Tamil, or Somali, or something.
Oh, and Commonwealth types seem to get in easier (G.B., Jamaica, etc)

That's pure crap. Have you seen the new point system for immigration? CBC radio did a story about it and asked prominent Canadians to do the immigration-qualification test. None of them passed.

Originally posted by Seeker
Vancouver is awesome, Interior is nice but you have to know people to work there. Be prepared to deal with the local Indian situation...

I got a job in the Interior in '92 without having any connections. Things haven't changed. Although it is true that the job opportunities are limited.

The Native Indian situation, and I'm assuming you're taking about First Nations, is not a significant problem other than roadblocks on logging roads.

Originally posted by Seeker
Vancouver is also virtually a colony of Asians (H.K., Taiwan, India) has more Sikh temples and Buddhist shrines than churches.

Again, more crap. There are large populations of Chinese-Canadians and Indo-Canadians, but the majority of the people in Vancouver are white.

Originally posted by Seeker
Manitoba and Saskathewan are boring socialist backwaters. Manitoba has a lot of Inuit. Architecture: Large cities: All the uniform massive concrete socialist slabs with none of the feeling. Small towns are "Western" type.

What are you talking about? There are very few Inuit in Manitoba. (Maybe a few way, way up north) As for socialist backwaters, Manitoba has had a conservative government for the past 10 years. There are no "concrete social slabs" buildings.

Originally posted by Seeker
Rudest, most obnoxious inhabitants.

So you must be from Toronto.

Originally posted by Seeker
The rest is just filth and squalor, consisting of rundown ratholes, abandoned factories, modern suburban 'gated community' blight, strip malls, etc.

There are no "gated" communities in Toronto. There is a problem with strip malls, but that is true for most Canadian cities. Toronto is considered one of the cleanest cities in the world.

[Juggernaut]

I thought whole Canada looked like Twin Peaks, with small timber houses and giant pine trees.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Tingkai
Ahser's photo of Calgary is pure propoganda. The place ain't that nice. And talk about being a mini-version of an American city. Here's a view of the thriving streets of Calgary. Note the incredible street life.

That picture appears to be from the 70s, if I'm thinking of the correct tower under construction.

I have never liked Calgary. The place is dusty. It feels dead half the time. But the great thing about Calgary is it is near the Rockies. Great hiking during the summer. Great skiing in the winter. So if city life is not important to you then Calgary would be a great place.

I don't know what problems you've had, but it's not "dusty".

The winters in Calgary can be terrible, although it does get chinooks. Weatherwise, ya get a lot of beautiful clear sunny days (even when the temp drops well below zero).

They can be terrible, just like everywhere else in Canada. It's been really fine or really good. The past couple winters have been just awesome in Calgary. Maybe 3-4 real snowfalls all year, then the Chinooks melt them off pretty fast.

Calgary is far too white for my liking, although things may have changed in the past 5 years.

I'm not sure what you meant by that.
If you meant by "people", then I assure you (at least in the Northwest) that's not the case anymore. I was a minority in high school.

U of C is underrated. It has some pretty good programs.

I agree there.
I'm taking compsci there.

Asher how's the job market for high school/university teachers?

Teachers? Probably not very good. They're in a labor dispute with the government as it is right now, demanding more pay and lower class sizes and the usual.

University is more promising, the University of Calgary is growing at a huge rate (several new 10/11-story buildings are being built on campus as we speak), Mount Royal College is booming, SAIT is growing fast, etc.